Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop plans to invest his pension fund in a Bitcoin ETF. Fulop likens the investment to the Wisconsin pension fund's 2% cryptocurrency allocation. The SEC-approved Bitcoin ETF has seen little adoption by major financial institutions.
Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop has announced plans to invest a portion of the city's pension fund in a Bitcoin ETF.
Fulop, who has served as mayor since 2013, said on July 25 that the city's pension fund is in the process of updating its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission to include the new investment strategy.
Mayor Fulop believes in the potential of blockchain and cryptocurrencies
In a statement shared on X, Mayor Fulop expressed his long-standing belief in the potential of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. The mayor did not disclose the exact percentage of the fund that would be allocated to a Bitcoin ETF, but suggested it would be on par with the 2% allocation made by the Wisconsin State Pension Fund.
Fulop emphasized his confidence in the transformative power of blockchain, calling it one of the most important technological innovations since the internet.
Not my usual posting topic, but I thought I'd share. The question of whether crypto/Bitcoin will survive is pretty much settled, crypto/Bitcoin has won. #JerseyCity pension fund is in the process of updating its SEC filing to allocate % of its endowment to the Bitcoin ETF… https://t.co/5iNEqRqHGM
— Steven Fulop (@StevenFulop) July 25, 2024
Jersey City follows Wisconsin in investing in Bitcoin ETF
Fulop's move brings Jersey City in line with the Wisconsin State Investment Commission, which in May reported exposure to spot Bitcoin ETFs issued by Grayscale and BlackRock. At the time, Wisconsin's crypto investments amounted to $164 million out of roughly $156 billion in assets.
The SEC's approval of spot listing and trading of a Bitcoin ETF on U.S. exchanges in January paved the way for such investments.
However, publicly-run pension funds have been slow to adopt the strategy, with only Wisconsin and Jersey City currently considering cryptocurrency ETFs.
Interestingly, Mayor Fulop did not mention any plans to invest in the spot Ethereum ETF, which began trading in the United States on July 23.
Large financial institutions such as Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase have only made minimal investments in the Spot Bitcoin ETF, totaling less than $1 million, a tiny fraction of their vast asset portfolios.
Mayor Fulop's initiative marks an important step for Jersey City and could set a precedent for other municipalities considering similar investments in the burgeoning cryptocurrency sector.
